Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:09:35.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Distribution and abundance of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Nunavut, Canada—an Inuit knowledge survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2013

Jeff W. Higdon ,
Kristin H. Westdal  and
Steven H. Ferguson
Jeff W. Higdon
Affiliation:
Higdon Wildlife Consulting, 912 Ashburn Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 3C9, Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N6, Canada
Kristin H. Westdal
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N6, Canada Oceans North Canada, 515–70 Arthur Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 1G7, Canada
Steven H. Ferguson*
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N6, Canada
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: S.H. Ferguson, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N6, Canada email: steve.ferguson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Traditional ecological knowledge is being increasingly used in wildlife management in northern regions, and Inuit harvesters in Nunavut, Canada, have extensive knowledge about local wildlife species. We collected Inuit knowledge on killer whales (Orcinus orca) through 105 semi-directed interviews in 11 Nunavut communities from 2007 to 2010. Interviewees provided extensive information on killer whale movements, seasonal presence, distribution and abundance in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Observations from different communities were often complementary, and there was consistency in interview comments both within and among regions. Nearly all participants had seen killer whales at least once, and the whales were present every summer (July–September) in all regions, although movements depended on ice conditions. Relative abundance of killer whales varied by region, and they were reported more often in North Baffin communities than in other regions. Killer whales migrated through Hudson Strait and Lancaster Sound following their marine mammal prey. Estimates of local population sizes were variable, with suggested numbers that varied from tens to the low hundreds. Most interviewees in the Foxe Basin, Hudson Bay and north Baffin regions thought that killer whale presence was increasing. In contrast, half the South Baffin interviewees noted declines in past abundance due to the 1977 harvest of 14 whales that became trapped in a saltwater lake. Interviews provided information at a long temporal and wide spatial record. Inuit are reliable observers and continued killer whale research will be most effective if it integrates modern science approaches with the traditional skills, knowledge and experience of Inuit harvesters.

Keywords

killer whaleArcticexperienceharvesterssemi-directed interviewstraditional ecological knowledgeobservationwildlife management
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 6 , September 2014 , pp. 1293 - 1304
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arima, E.Y. (1976) An assessment of the reliability of informant recall. In Freeman, M.M.R. (ed.) Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Report, Volume 2. Ottawa: Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, pp. 31–38.Google Scholar
Berkes, F. (1999) Sacred ecology: traditional ecological knowledge and resource management. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Boas, F. (1884) A journey in Cumberland Sound and on the west shore of Davis Strait in 1883 and 1884. Journal of the American Geographical Society 16, 242–272.Google Scholar
Campbell, R.R., Yurick, D.B. and Snow, N.B. (1988) Predation on narwhals, Monodon monoceros, by killer whales, Orcinus orca, in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Canadian Field Naturalist 102, 689–696.Google Scholar
Cosens, S.E. and Blouw, A. (2003) Size-and age-class segregation of bowhead whales summering in northern Foxe Basin: a photogrammetric analysis. Marine Mammal Science 19, 284–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COSEWIC (2008) COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the killer whale Orcinus orca, southern Resident population, northern resident population, west coast transient population, offshore population and northwest Atlantic/eastern Arctic population, in Canada. Ottawa: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.Google Scholar
Ferguson, M.A.D., Williamson, R.G. and Messier, F. (1998) Inuit knowledge of long-term changes in a population of Arctic tundra caribou. Arctic 51, 201–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, S.H., Higdon, J.W. and Chmelnitsky, E.G. (2010a) The rise of killer whales as a major Arctic predator. In Ferguson, S.H., Loseto, L.L. and Mallory, M.L. (eds) A little less Arctic: top predators in the world's largest northern inland sea, Hudson Bay. New York: Springer, pp. 117–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, S.H., Dueck, L., Loseto, L.L. and Luque, S.P. (2010b) Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) seasonal selection of sea ice. Marine Ecology Progress Series 411, 285–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, S.H., Higdon, J.W. and Westdal, K.H. (2012a) Prey items and predation behavior of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Nunavut, Canada based on Inuit hunter interviews. Aquatic Biosystems 8, 3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, S.H., Kingsley, M.C.S. and Higdon, J.W. (2012b) Killer whale (Orcinus orca) predation in a multi-prey system. Population Ecology 54, 31–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forney, K.A. and Wade, P. (2006) Worldwide distribution and abundance of killer whales. In Estes, J.A., Brownell, R.L. Jr, DeMaster, D.P., Doak, D.F. and Williams, T.M. (eds) Whales, whaling and ocean ecosystems. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 145–162.Google Scholar
Freeman, M.M.R. (ed.) (1976) Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project Report. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada.Google Scholar
Gagnon, C.A. and Berteaux, D. (2009) Integrating traditional ecological knowledge and ecological science: a question of scale. Ecology and Society 14, 19. Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art19/ (accessed 22 June 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, J.P. and Poston, D.L. Jr (1975) The division of labor: conceptualization and related measures. Social Forces 53, 468–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haller, A., Foote, D. and Cove, P. (1966) In Anders, G. (ed.) The east coast of Baffin Island: an area economic survey. Ottawa: Industrial Division, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. A.E.S.R. No. 66/4.Google Scholar
Heide-Jorgensen, M.P., Hansen, Ri.G., Westdal, K., Reeves, R.R. and Mosbech, A. (2013) Narwhals and seismic exploration: is seismic noise increasing the risk of ice entrapments? Biological Conservation 158, 50–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higdon, J.W. (2007) Status of knowledge on killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Canadian Arctic, Research Document 2007/048. Ottawa: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.Google Scholar
Higdon, J.W. (2010) Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 11, 185–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higdon, J.W. and Ferguson, S.H. (2009) Loss of Arctic sea ice causing punctuated change in sightings of killer whales (Orcinus orca) over the past century. Ecological Applications 19, 1365–1375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higdon, J.W. and Ferguson, S.H. (2010) Past, present, and future for bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in northwest Hudson Bay. In Ferguson, S.H., Loseto, L.L. and Mallory, M.L. (eds) A little less Arctic: top predators in the world's largest northern inland sea, Hudson Bay. New York: Springer, pp. 159–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higdon, J.W., Hauser, D.D.W. and Ferguson, S.H. (2012) Killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Canadian Arctic: distribution, prey items, group sizes, and seasonality. Marine Mammal Science 28, E93–E109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, H.P. (1998) Observations on the utility of the semi-directive interview for documenting traditional ecological knowledge. Arctic 51, 37–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, H.P. (2000) Using traditional ecological knowledge in science: methods and applications. Ecological Applications 10, 1270–1274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, H.P., Suydam, R.S. and Rosenberg, D.H. (2004) Traditional knowledge and satellite tracking as complementary approaches to ecological understanding. Environmental Conservation 31, 177–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannes, R.E., Freeman, M.M.R. and Hamilton, R.J. (2000) Ignore fishers' knowledge and miss the boat. Fish and Fisheries 1, 257–271.Google Scholar
Kemp, W.B. (1976) Inuit land use in South and East Baffin Island. In Freeman, M.M.R. (ed.) Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Report, Volume 1. Ottawa: Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, pp. 125–151.Google Scholar
Kilabuk, P. (1998) A study of Inuit knowledge of the Southeast Baffin beluga. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, 74 pp.Google Scholar
Kitchin, R. and Tate, N.J. (2000) Conducting research in human geography: theory, methodology and practice. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings.Google Scholar
Kumlien, L. (1879) Contributions to the natural history of Arctic America made in connection with the Howgate Polar expedition 1877–78. US National Museum Bulletin, No. 15, 179 pp.Google Scholar
Laidre, K., Heide, Jorgensen M.-P. and Orr, J. (2006) Reactions of narwhals, Monodon monoceros, to killer whale, Orcinus orca, attacks in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Canadian Field-Naturalist 120, 457–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, J.W. and Stevens, T.S. (2013) Historic and seasonal distribution patterns and abundance of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northwest Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, this volume.Google Scholar
Lawson, J.W., Stevens, T.S. and Snow, D. (2007) Killer whales of Atlantic Canada, with particular reference to the Newfoundland and Labrador Region, Research Document 2007/062. Ottawa: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.Google Scholar
Lewis, A.E., Hammill, M.O., Power, M., Doidge, D.W. and Lesage, V. (2009) Movement and aggregation of eastern Hudson Bay beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas): a comparison of patterns found through satellite telemetry and Nunavik traditional ecological knowledge. Arctic 62, 13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lien, J., Stenson, G.B., Carver, S. and Chardine, J. (1994) How many did you catch? The effect of methodology on by-catch reports obtained from fishermen. Report of the International Whaling Commission Special Issue 15, 535–540.Google Scholar
Mallory, M., Gilchrist, H.G., Fontaine, A.J. and Akearok, J.A. (2003) Local ecological knowledge of ivory gull declines in Arctic Canada. Arctic 56, 293–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallory, M.L., Fontaine, A.J., Akearok, J.A. and Johnston, V.H. (2006) Scientific study, local ecological knowledge and the development of a marine wildlife area along eastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Polar Record 42, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallory, M.L., Fontaine, A.J., Akearok, J.A. and Gilchrist, H.G. (2008) Harlequin ducks in Nunavut. Waterbirds 31, 15–18.Google Scholar
Matthews, C.J.D. and Ferguson, S.H. (2013) Dietary specialization among eastern Canadian Arctic/Northwest Atlantic killer whales (Orcinus orca) inferred from δ15N and δ13C in teeth. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, this volume.Google Scholar
Matthews, C.J.D., Luque, S.P., Petersen, S.D., Andrews, R.D. and Ferguson, S.H. (2011) Satellite tracking of a killer whale (Orcinus orca) in the eastern Canadian Arctic documents ice avoidance and rapid, long-distance movement into the North Atlantic. Polar Biology 7, 1091–1096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, J.H. (2009) Handbook of biological statistics. 2nd edition. Baltimore, MD: Sparky House Publishing.Google Scholar
NWMB (2000) Final report of the Inuit Bowhead Knowledge Study, Nunavut, Canada. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.Google Scholar
Priest, H. and Usher, P.J. (2004) The Nunavut Wildlife Harvest Study–Final Report. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.Google Scholar
Reeves, R.R. and Mitchell, E. (1988) Distribution and seasonality of killer whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Rit Fiskideildar 11, 136–160.Google Scholar
Serreze, M.C., Holland, M.M. and Stroeve, J. (2007) Shrinking sea-ice cover. Science 315, 1533–1536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, E.A. (1991) Inujjuamiut foraging strategies: evolutionary ecology of an Arctic hunting economy. New York: Walter de Gruyter, Inc.Google Scholar
Soper, J.D. (1944) The mammals of southern Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. Journal of Mammalogy 25, 21–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, A.M., Estes, J.A., Van Vliet, G.B., Williams, T.M., Doak, D.F., Danner, E.M., Forney, K.A. and Pfister, B. (2003) Sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific Ocean: an ongoing legacy of industrial whaling? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100, 12223–12228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Springer, A.M., Estes, J.A., Van Vliet, G.B., Williams, T.M., Doak, D.F., Danner, E.M. and Pfister, B. (2008) Mammal eating killer whales, industrial whaling, and the sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific Ocean: a reply to critics of Springer et al. 2003. Marine Mammal Science 24, 414–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steltner, H., Steltner, S. and Sergeant, D.E. (1984) Killer whales, Orcinus orca, prey on narwhals, Monodon monoceros: an eyewitness account. Canadian Field-Naturalist 98, 458–462.Google Scholar
Stevenson, M.G. (1997) Inuit, whalers, and cultural persistence: structure in Cumberland Sound and Central Inuit Organization. Oxford and Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, D.B. (2004) Commercial and subsistence harvests of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from Cumberland Sound, Nunavut 1840–2002. Winnipeg: Arctic Biological Consultants for Department of Fisheries and Oceans, iii + 36 pp.Google Scholar
Tester, F.J. and Irniq, P. (2008) Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: Social history, politics and the practice of resistance. Arctic 61 (Supplement), 48–61.Google Scholar
Usher, P.J. (2000) Traditional ecological knowledge in environmental assessment and management. Arctic 53, 183–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzel, G.W. (2004) From TEK to IQ: Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Inuit cultural ecology. Arctic Anthropology 41, 238–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westdal, K.H. (2009) Movement and diving of Northern Hudson Bay narwhals (Monodon monoceros): relevance to stock assessment and hunt co-management. MEnv thesis. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.Google Scholar
Westdal, K.H., Higdon, J.W. and Ferguson, S.H. (2013) Attitudes of Nunavut Inuit towards killer whales (Orcinus orca). Arctic 66, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westdal, K.H., Richard, P.R. and Orr, J.R. (2010) Migration route and seasonal home range of the Northern Hudson Bay narwhal (Monodon monoceros). In Ferguson, S.H., Loseto, L.L. and Mallory, M.L. (eds) A little less Arctic: top predators in the world's largest northern inland sea, Hudson Bay. New York: Springer, pp. 71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilcox, A.R. (1973) Indices of qualitative variation and political measurement. The Western Political Quarterly 26, 325–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, B.G., Higdon, J.W. and Ferguson, S.H. (2011) Killer whale (Orcinus orca) photo-identification in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Polar Research 30, 1–11. Available at: http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/7203/html_155 (accessed 22 June 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar